


Danaganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 6

by STARRY_RlN



Series: The Killing Idol Festival [6]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:10:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARRY_RlN/pseuds/STARRY_RlN
Summary: Chapter 6 of my LL/DR AU! Reminder as usual to read the earlier chapters if you have not already because spoilers!





	Danaganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

> Nerd stats: 77313 characters and 64 pages, making this the second shortest chapter after Chapter 1

**_Chapter 6_ **

**_Trapped in a Hell Worse than Hell_ **

 

You, Umi, Maki, they were all gone. Rather than only losing two people, we lost three girls last time rather than the usual two. Maki killed You, Umi killed herself so the rest of us would continue to live, and Maki was killed as the blackened.

You was gone.

You was gone.

You is gone.

I don’t want to accept this at all, but it’s the inescapable truth.

And the one that killed her is the only hope I have for five of us to escape…

No, not hope, Maki told us… She told us to abandon hope, that hope is the wrong choice. But she wouldn’t want us to give in to Monokuma’s despair either. What are we supposed to do?

All I have is this black notebook, but she told me not to show anyone what’s inside it, no matter what. She’s helped us so much up to this point… But do I really have to listen to her? Isn’t it possible to just tell everyone and figure this out together?

No, I can’t do that, Maki seemed serious and this was after she was sentenced to death. After she would have stopped lying to me.

I have to trust this notebook. I have to trust this gift from the person who killed one of the girls I love so, so much.

It hurts to trust her.

It hurts to listen to her.

Everything Maki’s done…

It all hurts.

“H-Hey, Chika, are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, Riko…”

“Is everything that happened catching up to you now..?”

I couldn’t say anything, all I did was nod.

You is dead.

And then I collapsed.

Everyone was still in the Commons Area, all six of them were looking at me as I burst into tears again. I’ve been crying so much lately.

What’s wrong with me.

What’s wrong with everyone else?

Why am I the only one crying?

Why is everyone able to hold themselves together?

Why must we be trapped in this hell of death and accusation.

Of death and loss.

Of death and pain and fear.

Two more girls need to die before we can go home.

Two more girls I’ve grown to care about will die.

Myself, Riko, Ruby, Dia, Mari, Rin, Hanayo.

Only seven of us left, and five of us can escape.

Eleven girls are gone.

Honoka, Kotori, Kanan, Eli, Yoshiko, Nico, Hanamaru, Nozomi, You, Umi, and Maki.

They’re all gone.

They’re all dead.

They’re all-

Suddenly I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and more tears joined my own.

Mari was crying with me now.

And the two of us just cried.

Who knows how long we cried for.

Minutes?

Hours?

Days?

We didn’t care. We let our tears out in each others’ arms. We let our tears flow until they wouldn’t anymore. We cried until I heard Mari’s voice softly in my ear. She was so quiet I doubt anyone else could hear her.

“Chika, come on, we have to stand, we have to move forward. Think of You, of Yohane, of Maru and Kanan. And think of Honoka, Umi, Nico. Think of them all. Think of how upset at us they would be if we died. Come on, let’s live, for them.”

With that, Mari helped me stand. She was right. We have so much to live for, even if those we care about are dying, we have to survive. We still have Riko. We still have Dia. We still have Ruby. We still have Rin, and Hanayo. We only need to lose two more before we can leave. We can leave after someone kills someone else just one more time.

I can’t tell if I was excited, or terrified, or both.

And I don’t want to know.

 

“So, I guess we should all go clean up the Cafeteria assuming Monokuma didn’t already do that for us. By the time we finish it will probably be almost nighttime.”

“You’re right Riko, come on Kayo-chin… Let’s go clean.”

I could tell instantly that something was wrong with Rin, she didn’t have any of the energy she always had. Even at times like this when the mood was low, using her nickname for Hanayo would usually lift her spirits, but not this time. For the first time since we had arrived in the hotel Rin sounded truly scared. Now isn’t the time to bring it up though, I should wait until we’re alone.

Hanayo was the first one to reach the door and reach for the knob.

“H-Huh? W-What?”

“W-What’s wrong Hanayo? Why aren’t you opening the door?”

“I-I’m trying Ruby, but the knob, it’s-”

“H-Hey! Why isn’t there a knob on this door! There was one right before the trial!”

“Calm down Hoshizora, I just didn’t quite have everything ready yet, here ya go! One doorknob!”

Monokuma had suddenly appeared and claimed to give us a doorknob but his hand, paw, whatever, was empty. I looked back at the door and there was suddenly a doorknob on it.

“Go on out now, come on, I’ll wait!”

“If you’re staying that probably means the motive is on the other side of the door, doesn’t it?”

“Aww, I thought with Nishikino gone I’d be able to have a bit more fun, oh well. You’re right Ohara, once you open the door you should know the next motive, the motive that your beloved and trusted Nishikino, who killed You and attempted to kill Umi, Chika, and Rin told you would result in the last killing!”

“Shut up Monokuma! She just wanted this all to end! Even if it meant sacrificing everyone, including herself!”

“Geez, geez, calm down Takami, no need to yell. I was only stating facts afterall.”

I ignored Monokuma and pushed past Hanayo, flinging the door open. And what I saw almost seemed normal, but I quickly noticed what was wrong.

There were only four doors. Two on either side of the hallway, and none at the end. The hallway was also much shorter, the spaces that previously held the doors of those who were gone, and had been replaced by blank wall, had simply disappeared.

“Why are there only 4 rooms? Monokuma if sleeping together is the motive then uh, most of us have been using that motive since the very start.”

“I know Takami, that’s not the motive, I just figured the extra rooms were unnecessary, check the nameplates on them.”

I did as Monokuma said and on the right I saw the door closer to the Commons Area read “Yazawa.”

“W-What? Why is Nico’s room here?”

“That’s explained on the plaque at the end of the hall, but check the rest of the rooms first Takami.”

Sure enough, at the end of the hall on the wall where the door to the rest of the hotel would have been was a gray plaque that I could have sworn wasn’t the a moment ago.

“Alright, well the one next to Nico’s says ‘Sonoda,’ the one across from Nico’s has ‘Sakurauchi’ on it, and the last one says ‘Tsushima.’”

“So that means… The only one of us whose room is here out of the seven of us is Riko’s…”

“That’s exactly right Kurosawa junior. Though, that’s not going to matter that she still has her room. You should all read the plaque now, you’ll realize what the motive is soon enough on your own anyways. Have fun everyone!”

Monokuma left and the seven of us were all standing together in the short hallway. I was the furthest in so I turned and began to read the sign out loud.

“Upupupu, you may think that you could all sleep in these rooms together, especially Sakurauchi, but these doors all lock once nighttime starts and can’t be unlocked using the Monobooks. They can be opened freely during daytime however. So anyone can enter any room! They can also be locked mechanically from the inside for privacy, though unlike the rooms in the regular hotel, the occupied screens for these rooms will show exact names of who is in them. These four rooms were chosen as they hold the most useful tools for murder in them. Please use the items in each of these rooms to your greatest advantage! Once the 6th Hotel Trial ends you will return to the hotel proper and the final motive will be given assuming there is a small enough cast. Also, all rooms that are here will be exactly as they were when you all woke up. Anything hidden in these rooms during the Killing Festival will be gone.”

“So he chose the four of us with hobbies greatest for killing and put our rooms here?”

“I guess so Mari, but why would he put my room here? All I had in my closet was painting supplies.”

“It could probably be used as a substitute for blood like what happened with Yohane and Kanan…”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right Rin, but are you okay? You’ve been really wierd since the trial ended…”

“H-Huh? Y-Yeah! I’m fine Kayo-chin! D-Don’t worry about me!”

Rin did her best to act upbeat but it didn’t work at all. None of the other six of us bought it and she could tell. But she kept up her act nonetheless.

“So, um, should we check out what Umi, Nico, and Yoshiko had? It would help to know what we could be up against… Maki said it herself that a killing was inevitable. So we should figure out what the potential weapons could be.”

“That’s a good idea Dia, we should also put papers in front of each room for us to write when we go in and out. There should be paper and pens in my room for sketching, so all we need to do is bring a digital clock and table from the Commons Area. That way we know who had a chance to get a weapon in the event that a killer actually tries to escape with their killing.”

“H-Hey, sis…”

“What is it Ruby? Is something the matter?”

“I… I think I found what exactly the motive is… It’s not the different weapons, or the fact that we’ll all have to sleep in the same place making a killing without alibis easy.”

“Ruby, if you know the motive please tell us.”

“Sis… What are we supposed to eat?”

A sudden wave of realization washed over everyone. Ruby was right. All we have access to are the Commons Area, the stub of a hallway, and the four rooms that Monokuma had let us have.

We couldn’t access the Cafeteria.

We couldn’t access the Kitchen.

There’s nothing that we can eat.

“W-We can drink out of the sinks in the bathrooms in each room, but there’s not any food…”

“Ruby… You’re right… Maki was right… A killing is unavoidable… Even if none of us kill each other, eventually someone will die of starvation…”

“And even still, Rin, Maki said that someone has to kill someone else, otherwise we won’t get the final motive that makes escape possible…”

“H-Hey, Rin, Riko, don’t be so down, we’ll be okay… Only two more of us have to die before we can go home!”

“Exactly Mari… We all know that ‘only two more have to die’ but… I don’t feel like anyone else has accepted that fact… Two more of us will die… Two more of us will have our lives taken from us… How can you all be okay with that?! How are you all okay with two of us dying!”

Before anyone could respond, Rin turned and stormed into a room, probably without paying attention to who’s she was going into, though the one she ended up in was Nico’s, and we heard a click as she locked herself in.

Nobody knew what to say. Rin was right. I was suddenly sick with myself. How could I be so awful…

“C-Come on everyone, let’s get this all set up… I’ll put Rin down on the tracking sheet…”

Dia’s words were able to get us to at least start moving. Except for Hanayo. She was sitting next to the door to Nico’s room. It didn’t take a genius to realize why.

“H-Hey, Chika, come on, help me bring out all the stuff we’ll need.”

“Y-Yeah, coming Riko.”

I looked back at the sad sight of Hanayo with her back to the wall and here knees up to her chest, and though the room was soundproof, I could tell Rin was crying. I couldn’t hear her, I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was hurt, knew she was scared, and knew she needed support.

“Chika…”

“R-Right, sorry.”

I followed Riko into her room and she opened her closet. Inside was paint, canvas, paper, pens, pencils, and almost anything else that could be useful for art.

“We just need the Paper and pens for now… I’ll paint the new paintings tomorrow…”

She was better at suppressing her feelings than me, but Riko’s just as hurt over You’s death as I am. Her inability to begin painting was enough of a sign of that.

Riko took the paper and I grabbed a box of pens. There was already a table placed between the doors for Umi and Nico’s rooms and Dia and Mari were carrying a second table into the hall while Ruby held the door. Looking back to where Hanayo had been before, I could see she was gone. I looked at the electronic label next to the door and it read what I had expected.

Hoshizora

Koizumi

“I guess the panel only shows our family names, so if Dia or Ruby were in separate rooms with the doors locked we wouldn’t know who was in which room.”

“Hm, we could test this pretty quickly.”

Dia and Mari put the table down between Yoshiko and Riko’s rooms and Dia walked into Yoshiko’s. Once she closed the door, her name appeared on the panel.

Kurosawa D.

I knocked on the door and she soon came back out of the room.

“So, what did it say? Did it just say Kurosawa?”

“No, it had a D after it, if Ruby went into a room it would probably have an R after it for her name.”

“Okay, thank you Chika, so we should all be able to know who’s in what room as long as we all mark when we go in and out. Ruby, get the clock, I’ll write for Rin and Hanayo being in Nico’s room.”

“Okay sis!”

Ruby turned and shut the door as Riko handed a few sheets of paper to Dia and I gave her a pen. Dia made a few lines for us to write on so we could keep the paper neat and placed a paper with Rin and Hanayo’s names next to Nico’s door. Ruby came back into the hall with a digital clock and placed it on the table between Yoshiko and Riko’s rooms.

“Alright, it’s only a few minutes until nighttime starts. The doors should lock once it does so let’s wait to see what’s in each closet until tomorrow.”

“Hey! Sis! I have an idea! Let’s take as many pillows and blankets out of the rooms as we can and put them in the Commons Area! That way we have something to keep us warm while we sleep!”

“That’s a very good idea Ruby! We should also all use the bathroom though, if we can’t get into the rooms during nighttime then it would be bad if we had to go and there was no bathroom.”

“You’re right Dia, Mari you tell Rin and Hanayo, and we can take the blankets out as we leave.”

“Alright, let’s go fast then.”

Dia turned, took Ruby’s hand, and went into Umi’s room. Mari went and knocked on the door to Nico’s room and Riko pulled me back into her own room. Riko went into the bathroom and I started to take the sheets off of the bed. Once Riko was done I went in and she took some of the blankets out of the room. When I was done I took what Riko had left and as I picked them up I heard a sound from the corner of the room near the door and a slightly different announcement than what we had come to expect played, though it had the same meaning.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, all residents please report to the Commons Area.”

I left the room with the blankets in my arms and saw Rin and Hanayo coming out of Nico’s room. Hanayo was carrying the blankets from Nico’s bed, and Rin had the pillows.

“H-Hey Chika.”

“Hi Hanayo, is Rin okay?”

“Y-Yeah, she’s fine… She was just overwhelmed with fear, she should be okay in the morning I think.”

“Alright, that’s good to hear… Let’s go then, everyone else should already be in the Commons Area.”

I led Hanayo and Rin into the Commons Area where everyone else was already setting up the blankets. As we shut the door the metal grate that would block the door when we went to the trial grounds came down, sealing us from the mini hallway. There were 5 couches, and they had been moved so that there were two pairs that were facing each other and one that was separated from the rest. So two of us would have to sleep on the floor. But Dia and Ruby were spreading blankets on the ground to lay on.

“O-Oh, so two of us have to sleep on the floor.”

“Yeah, the couches aren’t large enough to fit two people on, Chika. Even if it were Ruby and Rin, one of them would probably fall off. So Mari and I are going to sleep on the floor so the rest of you can be on the couches.”

“Kayo-chin and I can sleep on the floor.”

“Huh? Are you sure you’re okay with that Rin? Mari and I are the oldest so we figured you five would be better off with the couches.”

“I-I think it’s just that Rin doesn’t want to have to sleep separated from me, even though you moved the couches closer together I think she just wants to be able to hold onto me while we sleep, for comfort.”

“O-Oh, that makes sense as well. Alright then, that’s fine. So Rin and Pa- er, Hanayo will sleep on the floor, and the rest of us will have the couches. Chika and Riko can still have the couches they were going to be in, Ruby and I can take the two we had moved closer together for Hanayo and Rin, and Mari can sleep in the one that Ruby would have slept in. Well, I guess we should all sleep, we put the clock that was in here in the hallway so we can’t really tell the time. But we’ll have to wake up before long, so it’s better to get to sleep early.”

With Dia’s dismissal she lay on one of the couches that faced another and Ruby lay across from her. Mari went to the couch that was separated from the rest and Rin and Hanayo curled up together on the pile of blankets Dia and Ruby had placed on the ground. Riko and I took the last two couches with the blankets and pillows we had brought from her room.

And then we slept.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

I sat up, stretched, and then started to fall forward.

I had forgotten we were on couches, and that there wasn’t much space in front of me. I ended up on the floor between my couch and Riko’s and if I wasn’t woken up by the announcement already, I was definitely awake now.

“Chika! Are you okay?”  
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine, just forgot where we were, sorry about that.”

“Hey, come on Rin, wake up.”

I looked over and saw Hanayo shaking Rin to get her to wake up as she rubbed her own eyes. Dia was already standing, though she was yawning, and both Ruby and Mari were struggling to get up. I guess nobody was able to sleep well. It wasn’t much of a surprise, it’s hard to sleep on an empty stomach and I could feel the lack of food already getting to me.

“I don’t think most of us had enough time to put our names on the papers for each room when we used the bathroom last night, I’ll go put everyone’s names down for that.”

Dia left as everyone finished waking up, and the next to speak was Rin.

“Everyone… I’m sorry for yelling at you all yesterday…”

“I-It’s okay Rin! Don’t worry about it! You’re right, we were wrong to think the way we were. It’s sad that anyone has to die…”

“No, you were right Chika, it’s good that only two people have to die now. If that weren’t the case then that would mean four more of us would have to die. It’s better that only two have to die compared to four…”

“Yeah, that’s what we thought yesterday too. But it would be even better if none of us had to die. I wish everyone else didn’t have to. I wish they could all come back… No matter how impossible it is I just wish we could bring them back to life…”

“I know… I’m scared… I don’t want any of this to happen… I just wish all seven of us could leave…”

“You know Rin, I never thought you would be this scared of death. I thought you were one of the stronger girls left…”

“W-What? M-Mari?”

“I mean, out of everyone left I expected Ruby, or Hanayo to be the one scared to die. I thought you would be stronger than that.”

“Y-You, you think I’m scared to die?”

“Isn’t that what you said? You said you don’t want any of this to happen, that you wish we could all leave.”

“I’m not scared for myself! I’d gladly die if it meant Kayo-chin could live! I’m scared for Kayo-chin! I’m lucky she’s lived as long as she has, she’s always been frail, and weak, I’ve always been there to protect her, and she’s always been here to keep me from falling apart. I couldn’t continue after all this if she died, I don’t want Kayo-chin to die… Please… The possibility for her to die scares me…”

Rin had collapsed to the ground. She had her head in her hands and I could hear her trying to hold back tears.

“R-Rin, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“SHUT UP MARI!”

Rin shot up and burst through the door. I could see the tears falling from her eyes as she ran out. Everyone was silent.

“H-Hey, what happened, why did Rin just lock herself in Nico’s room?”

“D-Don’t worry about it Dia, I’m going to go talk to her.”

Riko pushed past Dia and the door to the hall shut behind her.

Mari was looking away. I could see the guilt that she felt. The seven of us, we were all falling apart. We were so close to the end, why did we have to lose it now…

“I’m taking a bath in Yohane’s room… I’ll see you all later…”

With that Mari left the Commons Area as well. It was just myself, Hanayo, Ruby, and Dia.

“Ruby, are you okay? Did anything happen?”

“N-No, it’s okay sis… Nothing happened to me…”

“Okay… I’m going to take a look at what’s in the different rooms… You three please just try to be nice, okay?”

Dia went back out into the hall and Hanayo, myself, and Ruby were left alone.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry about Rin, please don’t worry about her you two, she’s just really scared for me… I’m sorry if she upset you with that outburst, I should talk to her when Riko’s done talking to her… She needs all the comfort she can get…”

“It’s okay Hanayo, don’t feel bad, I think Rin’s the one who’s responding the most normally in all this… It makes sense for her to be scared… If two of us are going to die then that’s a two in seven chance for you to die… and a two in seven chance for her to die too… The longer this lasts the higher the chance that we die…”

“You’re right Chika… Hey, Ruby.”

“H-Huh? W-What is it?”

“I wanted to tell you, you’re very cute, I’m glad you’ve been able to survive. You and your sister are wonderful together. I know you’ve lost Hanamaru, who was your best friend, but I hope that neither you nor her die. You two don’t deserve to ever be separated from each other.”

“H-Huh? I-I don’t know how to respond to that… Th-Thank you Hanayo!”

“Ehehe, it’s the truth. I really hope out of the seven of us, both of you get to be part of the five who escape.”

“Th-Thank you again Hanayo! I-I hope sis and I can escape too… Losing Maru is hard enough, I don’t know what I’d do without sis…”

I could see Ruby starting to tear up, and could feel myself doing the same. The thought of Ruby losing Dia, the thought of Hanayo losing Rin, the thought of myself losing Riko. All these thoughts hurt so much. I don’t want any of us to die… But two of us will have to… Two more people will be taken away from us… And then the last of us can go home… At least one of these three pairs will stay together… And at least one pair will be separated…

As I felt tears start to run down my face I felt Hanayo’s arm wrap around me and felt Ruby’s body be pulled closer as well.

“Don’t worry you two… It’ll be okay…”

Hanayo’s words were what it took for me to finally break down. I could feel the promise in them, but the logical part of my brain that Maki had done so much to raise was telling me that they were meaningless. It’s not going to be okay. Eleven girls are dead and two more have to die before we can go home. In a week it’s possible one of the girls hugging me right now could be dead. It’s possible Riko could be dead.

Nothing is going to be okay, all we can hope is that it’s not as bad for ourselves as it is anyone else. The situation we’re in…. It’s one where our only choice is to be greedy… No matter what we wish for, we’re wishing that someone dies or has someone close to them die.

If I hope that two of our pairs stay together, I’d be hoping that Mari dies. If I hope that Mari lives then I would be hoping that two of our pairs become separated. And the only other situation that would be possible would be if someone were to kill the one they care the most about… No matter what it’s an awful thing to hope for. Maki’s right, Hoping for something can’t be the right option if this is what hope leads to, the hope that someone dies that isn’t myself or Riko isn’t the type of hope that I want to associate with.

“H-Hey, you three, is everything okay?”

“Oh, hi Dia, I’m trying to comfort them but I’m not sure I’m doing a very good job… Could you please help…”

“Y-Yeah, I can take care of them. You should go and talk to Rin, Hanayo. I’m sure she could use you right now.”

“You’re right, And when you have the chance you should bring Ruby and comfort Mari. This all was started by a misunderstanding and Rin’s sensitivity got the better of her. Mari seemed really upset so I’m sure she could use you two…”

Hanayo left the Commons Area and Dia was left with myself and Ruby, both crying and holding onto each other.

Dia walked up to us both and helped us sit down on either side of her on one of the couches. We both leaned onto her chest and she began to pat both of our heads.

“Ruby, I know it’s been hard for you. You’ve lost Maru, and Yoshiko, but you have to be strong. As long as I’m here I can promise that nothing can happen to you. So should anything happen to me, I need you to be strong. Don’t let yourself be taken down, and please, I just want you to live Ruby.”

At Dia’s words Ruby began to cry harder. They were different from Hanayo’s words. Nothing about them felt hollow. They felt more sincere. Like there truly was nothing that could happen to Ruby as long as Dia lived.

“And Chika, you’re strong, you’ve shown that time and again while we’ve been here. You’ve pushed past You’s death, you’re holding yourself together. And you can continue to hold yourself together like that. You have to. If Riko dies then you can’t let yourself break down. You have a job that you have to do. Maki trusted you as the one who could most easily end this game. Please, don’t lose sight of what you have to do. I believe in you Chika, and I believe in your strength.”

I could feel every muscle in my body relaxing at Dia’s words. She was right. Maki gave me something I had to do. The notebook. I need to find out what she meant with it.

Shift 5 right.

That’s what Maki told me. That’s the secret to this book. But I can’t ask anyone to help me. That’s the other thing she told me just before she died.

I’m alone for this.

Nobody can help me.

“I-I’m going to go take a bath in Riko’s room. I’ll see you both later.”

“Okay Chika, try to relax, it’s good for you.”

“Mhm, thanks Dia, I will.”

As I left the room I looked back and saw Dia still holding Ruby, if nothing else I truly hope that both of them can escape.

In the hall, I looked at the papers in front of the doors. On the one for Nico’s room I saw Rin’s, Riko’s, and Hanayo’s names all in the same handwriting. It was Hanayo’s. In front of Umi’s I saw Dia and Ruby’s names in Dia’s handwriting from last night as well as Dia’s name a second time from just a short while ago. Likely from her writing a list of everything in Umi’s closet. And in front of Yoshiko’s I saw Mari’s name twice. Both in Mari’s handwriting, once from last night and once from now, while she was taking a bath. Riko’s room had both my name and Riko’s in Riko’s handwriting from last night, as well as Dia’s from her taking inventory of Riko’s closet.

I wrote my name on the paper for Riko’s room and went inside, locking the door behind me. I took a piece of paper from Riko’s closet and a pen before sitting at the desk in the room.

Maki said to use the page numbers and shift 5 right, so the first thing I should do is look at the page numbers.

Then I saw something odd.

The first page wasn’t 1, the second page wasn’t 2, none of the pages were the right number. I wrote the page numbers down in a line anyways.

16, 9, 25, 26, 13, 23, 13, 10, 18, 9, 7, 26, 22, 15, 3, 26, 13, 24, 10, 16, 24, 3, 4, 9, 24, 10, 8, 8, 10, 9, 14, 22, 13, 26, 22.

“Hmm, well, the highest number is 26, maybe it’s the alphabet?”

I ended up writing the letters the numbers would all match up with underneath them.

P I Y Z M W M J R I G Z V O C Z M X J P X C D I X J H H J I N V M Z V.

“Ehh? Those aren’t words! Hmm… What am I supposed to do with these numbers then…”

I sat pondering for a while until I heard a knock on the door, followed by Riko’s voice.

“Hey, Chika, Are you okay in there? Dia told me that you said you were going to take a bath but it’s been five hours since you went in.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine I decided to lay on the mattress while a dried off and I guess I must have fallen asleep, sorry, I’ll be out in a bit!”

I ended up having to lie, but I’m not sure how secret Maki wanted me to be about the notebook. I’m sure the numbers have some sort of code, but clearly it’s not the alphabet. I put the piece of paper I had written on between the cover and the first page of the notebook. Now that I think about it, I’ve just been carrying it around this whole time. If the traitor had some reason to take it and stop me from decoding it then they could easily take it while I slept. I’ll have to make sure I put it inside my shirt tonight. That way they won’t be able to take it while I sleep.

I messed up my hair a little bit before going outside to make it look like I really had been asleep. When I left I saw Riko waiting for me.

“There you are Chika, wait, you’re wearing the same clothes you were wearing before your bath?”

“Well what else would I put on? The rules say that we can’t share clothes, that makes you the only one that can change what you’re wearing.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’re right… We also don’t have any way to do laundry here… This place really is designed to drive us insane, isn’t it…”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

“Well, we still have about half the day left, Dia said she would handle the rest of the inventory check on her own so the rest of us could rest. She said we should all try to sleep as much as possible to conserve energy.”

“Oh, Alright, well, I was asleep just now so I guess I was ahead of her on that ehehe.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess you were, sorry for waking you up Chika, you probably won’t be able to get back to sleep easily now…”

“It’s okay Riko, don’t worry about me! I can sleep like a champ!”

“You’re right, I don’t know why I was worried about you being able to sleep, oh well, come on, even though it’s the middle of the day we should go to sleep like Dia said.”

“Alright, let’s go then.”

I followed Riko back to the Commons Area where Ruby, Mari, Rin,and Hanayo were already asleep. Dia must be looking through either Nico or Yoshiko’s room and making a list of everything in them.

Riko and I both lay on the same couches we slept on the previous night and before long I was out.

 

I woke up eventually and looked around. The metal grate hadn’t come down and Dia was the only one in the Commons Area.

I got up and started to walk to the mini-hall to check the time but Dia gave me the answer I wanted first.

“It’s about 9, there’s an hour until nighttime starts.”

“Oh, okay, thanks Dia.”

“Hey Chika, since you’ll probably get bored without something to do, I figure we should make a game for ourselves.”

“Huh? What do you mean game?”

“Of course it shouldn’t be a physical game, that would use up too much energy, it’ll be a mind game.”

“What kind of mind game? Just tell me! You’ve already got me sucked in!”

“Well come sit down, I’ve got some paper from Riko’s room already.”

I sat next to Dia and she wrote seven letters on a piece of paper.

J R R G M R E

“Jerg-m-reh?”

“No Chika, it’s a code, I want to see if you can figure out what it means.”

“Huh? How am I supposed to figure out what this means! It’s just a bunch of letters!”

“Well, maybe if I told you the type of code it is you could figure it out. It’s called a Caesar Cipher.”

“Huh? A Caesar Cipher?”

“Well, it has many names, Caesar shift, shift code, it’s named after Julius Caesar. It’s a code where you shift every letter a certain number of times down the alphabet. The number of places you move each letter is the key that tells you how to find the solution.”

“Wait! But you didn’t tell me how much to move it! You gave me a code and didn’t tell me what I need to solve it?”

“Well, it’s a pretty simple shift value, it’s a shift right of 3.”

“Hmm, alright, I think I can figure this out then.”

“You better considering I just gave you the key.”

I took the pen from Dia and began to write each letter if I shifted it 3 places to the right.

“M, U, U, J, P, U, H. Huh? That doesn’t make any words either!”

“That’s because I gave you the key that I used to write it Chika.”

“Oh! So if you shifted 3 times to the right to get the jumbled up letters I should move it 3 times left!”

“Exactly, good job Chika!”

“Alright then, let me try again!”

I looked back at the paper and began to write the letters once again.

“G, O, O, D, J, O, B. Oh! It says ‘Good job!’”

“Exactly right! Congratulations Chika! Now here’s where the game is, I want you to write me a Caesar Cipher of a question, but don’t tell me how much you shift it by, then I’ll write my answer as a Caesar Cipher and you’ll have to figure out how much I shifted it by.”

“Alright! That sounds really fun!”

“Well, it’s probably getting close to nighttime, we should use the bathroom while we can.”

Dia was right, it was important to make sure we used the bathroom in advance so we didn’t get stuck out here during nighttime suffering more than we already were until the next day started.

When we came to the hall, the only unoccupied room was Umi’s.

“You go first, I’ll write us both down for going in.”

“Alright, you should tell everyone else to use the bathroom too.”

“Okay, I will.”

Dia went over to the table to mark our entrance to Umi’s room as I opened the door. Once I was done Dia was waiting and walked in past me. I went back out to the Commons Area and saw Mari, Riko, and Rin were already outside.

“S-So, uh, Rin, are you and Mari-”

“Y-Yeah… We made up, Hanayo and Riko were able to get me to understand that I’m not the only one under a lot of pressure.”

“And while I was in the bath I realized that I’d probably be the same as Rin if Kanan were still here, or even Yohane. Hell I don’t want anyone to have to die either, but Rin and Hanayo, neither of them should have to see the other die. Same for Dia and Ruby, or you and Riko. I’m the only one left that’s no one’s favourite. I’m the only one left that wouldn’t bring out someone’s strongest tears…”

“Mari! Don’t talk like that! Nobody wants you to die! You’re important to us all!”

“You’re right Riko, I’m not saying I’m not important to anyone, I’m saying that I’m nobody’s most important. Think about it, if you had to pick one of us to survive, either myself or Chika, you would pick Chika.”

“Mari that’s-”

“Wrong? Were you about to say that’s wrong? Because if that’s what you were about to say then I’m not sure how you and Chika could possibly be in a functional relationship. What you were about to say was empty Riko. You should think better about how you speak, otherwise you’ll say something that’s obviously false and the person you’re trying to cheer up will only feel worse.”

Without another word, Mari walked over to the couch and pulled the blankets overtop of herself. Eventually Ruby, Dia, and Hanayo came into the room and we heard the announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, all residents please report to the Commons Area.”

After the grate fell, nobody really spoke much. They must have been able to read the mood pretty well. This was the second night since the trial. There are eight days until this ends according to Maki. Eight days where two people had to die. Eight days until Five of us could escape.

I put the notebook inside my shirt and slipped into unconsciousness.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

Monokuma’s announcement still woke us up. I guess he doesn’t like the idea of us sleeping forever. It almost seemed louder than usual. But maybe that was my empty stomach making me imagine things.

“Good morning Chika.”

“Good morning Riko.

“Come on Rin, get up.”

“I’m getting up, Kayo… Chin…”

Eventually everyone was awake. Before we all went off to do our own thing Dia spoke to get our attention.

“Hey, everyone, I’m not sure if you noticed but I put the lists of what was in the four rooms on the wall next to the door. They’re up there using tape from Riko’s room.”

“Alright, thanks Dia, I’m going to go take a bath in Riko’s room again.”

“Chika, don’t take too many baths. Soon enough you’ll shrivel like a raisin.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try not to be in for too long Dia.”

“Alright, enjoy yourself, and don’t forget our game.”

“Yup! I’ll think of something for you Dia.”

I went into Riko’s room and ran a bath, but I wasn’t going to get in yet. First I went to the desk and pulled out the notebook. I’m not sure how Dia had managed to give me exactly what I needed to know, but I’ll take what luck, or plot convenience, I can manage to get.

Shift 5 right.

P I Y Z M W M J R I G Z V O C Z M X J P X C D I X J H H J I N V M Z V.

Maki’s smart, and she didn’t really think the highest of me, so she probably gave me the key I had to use rather than the key she used. So I’ll shift it five spots to the right rather than flipping it.

U N D E R B R O W N L E A T H E R C O U C H I N C O M M O N S A R E A.

“Hmm, alright, so if I separate the words...”

Under brown leather couch in Commons Area.

That must be where the answer is. Under the brown leather couch in the Commons Area. That’s the one that Dia’s been sleeping on.

With my answer found, I closed the notebook and put it on the counter in the bathroom before getting into the bath myself.

 

Once I figured out what I wanted to ask Dia, I got out of the bathtub and let the water drain. I took two towels and wrapped myself up before sitting back at the desk.

Q B U N X I S I O N B C H E I Z G Y ?

There’s my question for Dia. ‘What do you think of me.’ I unlocked the door and left. I looked to see if anyone was in Yoshiko’s room, but it was empty. Good. I didn’t sign in since I didn’t want it to be known what I was doing, but I went into her closet and took what I had seen on the top of Dia’s list. A lighter.

I locked the door to be safe and went into the bathroom and took the spiral out of the notebook. Then I put the notebook and the paper I had used to figure out the code in the tub. Then I set it on fire.

I waited for the notebook to become ash and then used the detachable shower head to wash it all down the drain.

“There we go, that should do it.”

I put the showerhead back in its place and returned to Riko’s room. I was dry enough so I put my clothes back on and went back out to the hall. The only time anyone had gone into any of the rooms since I had left the Commons Area was Dia going into Umi’s, but it was when I would have still been in the bath, so she wouldn’t have seen me in Yoshiko’s room.

I went back to the Commons Area and saw that Riko was the only one awake. She spoke to me in a loud whisper trying not to wake anyone up.

“Geez Chika, I thought you said you wouldn’t be in there that long.”

“Sorry Riko, I got lost in my brain and then I stayed in there while I dried off, were you worried?”

“No, I was just waiting to be able to go in and start on the three paintings I have to do… These aren’t exactly the most comfortable ones to have to paint…”

“Yeah… I understand Riko, just try your best, if you can’t handle it then you don’t have to do it.”

“No, I want to do this, we need some way to remember everyone who’s gone. Especially now that we’ve lost You…”

Before I could speak Riko got up and left. There was nobody awake in the Commons Area. Dia and Ruby were on their couches, as well as Mari. And Rin and Hanayo were on the floor, laying on their pile of blankets.

Now would be a good time to check under the couch, but I don’t want to wake Dia up. I’m sure she would hear or feel me moving around under the couch she’s sleeping on, so I can’t do it while she’s here. I have to wait until there’s nobody in the room.

With nothing else to do, I went to sleep.

 

I eventually woke up. When I did I saw Dia and Mari were the only ones in the room, and they were both awake.

“Hey Chika, since we didn’t have a clock in here after moving the clock from here to the hall, I took the one in Umi’s room and put it near the door. I just figured it would be nice to have.”

I looked and sure enough, there it was. A digital clock on a small coffee table. The numbers on it read 9:55.

“Hey, we should probably use the bathroom since it’s almost nighttime.”

“Dia and I already did, but you’re right that you should go, so go.”

Listening to Mari’s advice I went into the hall and nearly ran into Ruby. She had probably just come from the bathroom as well. Looking at the doors I saw that Umi’s was unoccupied and went inside.

Once I was done I marked that I had gone in and went back out to the Commons Area. Almost right as I walked in I heard the announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, all residents please report to the Commons Area.”

The only girl who wasn’t in the Commons Area yet was Riko, but after just a few minutes she came out as well and the grate covered the door once again.

“Kayo-chin… I’m-”

“Don’t say it Rin, it’ll only make it worse for you and everyone else. We just have to push through it.”

“A-Alright…”

But we all knew what Rin was about to say, we all were having the same thoughts.

Hunger.

We need food, even if we all ate a lot on the night before the most recent trial we couldn’t last 7 more days until Maki had said this would end. We couldn’t all last another week without any food.

But despite the panging hunger, and the fact that I had slept for the entire second half of the day, or maybe more, I went to sleep.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

The days were routine now.

“Good morning Chika.”

“Good morning Riko.”

“Wake up Rin.”

“Y-yeah, I’ll be there in ten minutes mom…”  
And a few minutes later everyone was awake.

Some people left, and eventually Hanayo, Dia, and myself were the only people left in the Commons Area.

“So Chika, did you come up with a shift?”

“Huh? What do you mean Dia?”

“Oh, Hanayo, Chika and I decided to come up with a game to spend our time with so we don’t get too bored. We’re using Caesar Shifts to talk to each other.”

“Oh! That sounds fun! Caesar Shifts are a pretty simple code to use though…”

“Yeah well, I didn’t want to use anything too complicated. Anyways, do you have one for me Chika?”  
“Yup! Here you go!”

Dia looked at it for about ten seconds before looking back up at me.

“You shifted 6 left.”

“Ehh? How’d you figure it out so fast!”

“Well, since it was a question, I figured it would start with W, so from W to Q it’s a shift of 6 left.”

“Well then give me your answer!”

“Well first I need to decode the rest of your question, then I’ll need to write the code for your answer. And obviously I can’t do that with you watching. Riko’s probably in her room painting, so I don’t want to disturb her. I’ll figure it out later Chika, don’t worry.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll wait for you then.”

Being unable to sleep, I decided to look at the list of stuff in everyone’s closets. Umi’s has her archery equipment. I can see how Monokuma figured you could use that for murder. Yoshiko’s has stuff for her rituals, including the lighter I had used to burn the notebook as well as a ton of knives and her ritual outfit that she had died in…

Riko’s has all the art supplies that I had already known were in there as well as an electronic keyboard. And Nico’s has sewing equipment. You could probably use that for a slow, painful death. Though given the fact we’re all sleeping in the same place I’m not sure how useful that would be.

Looking at who was in each room I saw that Ruby and Rin were together in Nico’s room. I knocked to see what they were doing and was met by Ruby’s voice.

“It’s unlocked, you can come in.”

I went to the table near the door and signed my name for Nico’s room. When I opened the door I saw Ruby on the mattress along with Rin who had a needle in her hand.

“Oh! Hi Chika! What’s up?”

“I just wanted to see what you two were doing.”

“Well, Rin wanted something to do, so I decided to teach her how to sew. She’s not very good but she’s getting better really fast! She hasn’t even pricked her finger once today!”

“Ow.”

“She hasn’t even pricked her finger more than once today!”

“Oh, well, are they any bandages here? We don’t have access to the medicine room so it’d be kinda bad if there aren’t any.”

“Yeah, there were some in Yohane’s closet, I’ll go with you to get them.”

“Okay Rin, let’s go.”

Rin and I left Ruby in Nico’s room to go to Yoshiko’s and get her a bandage. Rin and I put our names on the paper and went inside. After digging around and nearly cutting myself on one of the knives, I found a box of 200 bandages. I took one and put it where Rin’s thumb was bleeding.

“Thanks Chika! Do you wanna sew with me and Ruby?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not!”

Rin and I went back to Nico’s room, marking that we were, and Ruby helped me to sew. I ended up pricking my own finger and we decided to bring the box of bandages into Nico’s room. I quickly went out to the Commons Area and told Dia that we were doing so, and I saw that You’s painting was in place on the 9th pedestal. There were 8 more open ones. One for Umi, one for Maki, two for the people who would have to die before we could go home, and two that would forever remain empty.

Once I told Dia we were moving the bandages I went back to Nico’s room and Ruby continued to teach me and Rin. After a while I looked at the clock.

“Oh! It’s 9:50, we should probably use the bathroom before nighttime.”

“You’re right, okay then, we can keep going tomorrow!”

“Yeah! We’ll finish tomorrow, Ruby!”

With Ruby and Rin’s enthusiasm we used the bathroom and one by one returned to the Commons Area. Just as she had been the previous night, Riko was the last one into the Commons Area and a couple minutes later we heard the announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, all residents please report to the Commons Area.”

“Hey, Chika, here, I was able to make my answer.”

Dia handed me a folded piece of paper, but I decided not to open it. If I were to start now I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep until I figured out what it said. I placed the paper on the coffee table that Umi’s digital clock was on and went over to my couch. I haven’t had a time where I was alone in the Commons Area yet so I still can’t see what’s under the couch that Dia’s been sleeping on.

Eventually I was able to push everything from my mind and go to sleep

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

“Good morning Chika.”

“Good Morning Riko”

“Wake up Rin, come a-aawwn…”

“Ngh, five more minutes Kayo-chin… There’s no school today...”

“Come on Rin, you said you’d keep sewing with me and Chika today!”

At Ruby’s words Rin was able to slowly pull herself up. And after stretching she was full of energy.

“Oh yeah! Alright then! Let’s go!”

Rin took my hand as well as Ruby’s and dragged us to Nico’s room. Ruby put all three of our names on the paper and we went inside.

Whenever there was a time that I wasn’t working, I worked on Dia’s code. It wasn’t as long as I had expected considering the question.

X G T A U Y G G V C P F K O I N C F A Q W T G U V K N N C N K X G.

Ruby asked what I was doing so I explained what I was doing with Dia. She seemed glad that Dia was doing something with someone other than herself.

I wasn’t able to figure out what it meant by the time the three of us had all finished what we were making, three matching dresses similar to something we would typically perform in.

“Ah! They’re not the best but they’re really pretty!”

“You’re right Rin! They came out really well for a first project!”

“Hey, Rin, Chika, when this is all over we should all perform a song together, in these outfits!”

“We should! We’d be super cute!”

“Y-Yeah… If we all get out together we should perform in these..!”

“Huh? What’s wrong Rin? You seem upset… Do you not like the idea?”  
“N-No, that’s not it… I’d just feel bad Chika…”

“Why would you feel bad? You can tell us Rin.”

“Well, it almost makes me feel like a replacement Ruby… you were both members of CYaRon, so it almost makes me feel like I’d be replacing You… She doesn’t deserve something like that…”

“Oh…”

“W-Well, we can think of it as like, our own subunit. Separate from CYaRon. Just Ruby, Rin, and Chika. Then you won’t feel bad, right?”

“Y-Yeah, I guess that works. If we all survive then we can perform together in these. As our own trio.”

“It’s a deal then!”

Ruby was able to save Rin from her own sadness. It’s only 5 days now. Five days until this ends according to Maki. With our sewing project done I went back to the Commons Area to finish decoding Dia’s answer. Dia and Mari were both there

 

After a few hours of trial and error, I was able to find what it was.

She shifted 24 left, if I had tried going to the left I would have found the answer a lot faster I guess.

V E R Y S W E E T A N D I M G L A D Y O U R E S T I L L A L I V E

Very Sweet And I’m Glad You’re Still Alive.

I decided to write a pretty short one in response.

S G Z M J X N T

Dia had left the Commons Area so I put it on her couch. Mari was still there but she was asleep. Hanayo had also come in and at one point Riko was here, but only for a little bit, to put Umi’s painting on its pedestal.

I looked at the time and saw there was just under half an hour until nighttime. I woke Mari up so she could use the bathroom and Hanayo ended up going as well.

Yoshiko’s room was the only unoccupied one so Mari went in while Hanayo and I told the others that it was close to nighttime. Mari was the first one out and Hanayo took her place in Yoshiko’s room, and Rin and Dia were next. Ruby was still in Umi’s room but Rin had been the only one in Nico’s. I went in and used the bathroom before returning to the Commons Area.

Mari was already asleep when I walked in and Riko and Hanayo were the only ones still not there. Hanayo came in shortly after me and for the third night in a row Riko was the last one out to the Commons Area.

“Sorry, I was putting the paint away, we still have about five minutes though.”

“Yeah, but it’s better to do it sooner so we don’t get stuck without any time, you know?”  
“Yeah, it makes sense, thank you Chika.”

Everyone eventually got onto the couches except for Rin and Hanayo who were still on the floor. And as I was falling asleep we heard the announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, all residents please report to the Commons Area.”

And then I fell asleep.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

“Good morning Chika.”

“Good morning Riko.”

“Wake up Rin, it’s morning.”

“Uhuh, I’ll wake up… When winter ends…”

Eventually everyone got up and dispersed. Including today there were four more days until Maki said it would end. But I could hardly walk at this point. Either someone would starve to death, or someone would kill someone else, and it would happen soon.

The only people left in the Commons Area were myself, Rin, and Mari.

I went back to sleep.

 

I was woken up by someone shaking me.

I opened my eyes and saw Riko standing over me.

“There are only 10 minutes until nighttime… You should go to the bathroom if you’re able to… I just came from Yohane’s room, it should be empty.”

I could hear the fatigue in her voice. We were all hungry. Listening to her advice I went out to the hall. Riko had been the only one in the Commons Area. I went into Yoshiko’s room and when I came back to the Commons Area, everyone was there. A few moments later I heard the announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, all residents please report to the Commons Area.”

The grate came down and everyone was too hungry to talk. We all went to sleep. The last words I heard that night were “Good night Kayo-chin, I love you.”

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

“Good morning Chika…”

“Good morning Riko…”

“Wake up Rin… You drooled all over me last night...”

“...”

“Rin, come on…”

“...”

“Ri-”

Her name hadn’t come out of Hanayo’s mouth before she opened her eyes.

We all had turned and seen.

We all had seen the same thing.

In Hanayo’s arms, with a knife in her back and a pool of blood around her, was Rin’s body, her eyes wide open and lifeless, but almost calm looking.

She was dead.

It wasn’t Rin’s drool that Hanayo felt.

It was her blood.

And before anyone could properly process it.

Was a scream more horrific than I could imagine, more horrific than when Ruby saw Maru’s remains, more horrific than can even be created with any form of human writing.

As Hanayo realized that the girl she loved was dead.

 

“Ding. Ding. Ding. Dong. A body has been discovered. After a period of time a trial will be held.”

 

This was real. Rin was dead. And before anything could even begin to be set up, our performance was canceled.

Rin was one of the last two that would have to die before this ended. Why her… Why did it have to be her…

“Hey Everyone! Sorry to interrupt! Here’s some bread for you all to fill yourselves up before the trial, ya can’t investigate on an empty stomach after all!”

“YOU-”

“Hanayo, stop.”

Attention turned to Dia as she commanded Hanayo with a dark look on her face. I could tell she was hurt as well.

“It’s against the rules to be violent towards Monokuma, Rin sacrificed herself for you, don’t waste her wishes for you to live…”

“BUT-”

“No Hanayo… You need to survive… It’s what Rin would want… She said so herself, don’t you remember?”

_I’d gladly die if it meant Kayo-chin could live!_

Dia was right. Rin had said that. Rin accepted her death. And at the very least we had that solace. We had the solace that Rin accepted death, and no matter how much pain she must have felt, no matter how hurt she was when it happened, she at least knew that her death would allow Hanayo to live.

“Anyways, here’s the Monokuma File or whatever, and since you left yours in the main part of the hotel here’s your Monobook, Takami.”

Monokuma handed me my Monobook and I heard six beeps from the Monobooks of the six remaining girls.

Myself, Dia, Ruby, Riko, Mari, and Hanayo.

One more of us, whoever killed Rin, would die.

Then the last five of us could leave.

With that in my mind I opened the notification on my Monobook.

 

**Monokuma Special Bulletin**

Monokuma File #6

The victim was Rin Hoshizora.

She died in the Commons Area.

Time of death: approximately 11 PM

The cause of death was blood loss from a single stab wound using a dagger made to draw blood.

Death was slow.

 

Rin is gone, and now we have to find who did this.

“We should probably start by checking the Hall, the dagger was taken from Yoshiko’s room so if there’s anyone who’s never gone into Yoshiko’s room then we know they’re innocent.”

“Alright Dia, I’ll go check.”

I got up and walked slowly to the door. Nobody stopped me. Nobody came with me. Everyone was frozen.

When I came to the hall I took the paper for Riko’s room. Then I took the paper for Umi’s room. Then I took the paper for Nico’s room. Then I didn’t take the paper for Yoshiko’s room.

I just stared.

There was no paper.

It was an empty spot of table.

I looked at the floor, I looked at the other spots on the table, nothing. It was gone.

I walked back to the Commons Area.

 

“H-Here, Chika, you look awful, eat, please, you need it.”

Riko raised a piece of bread to my mouth and practically forced me to chew. Eventually I had some semblance of energy back in my body and thoughts.

“So Chika, the paper?”

“It wasn’t there. I have the three for the other rooms but the one for Yoshiko’s room wasn’t there.”

“Alright, so someone took the paper…”

“Yeah… We can’t rule anyone out then…”

“Let’s start the rest of the investigation then.”

Dia turned back towards Rin’s body. What was there even to investigate. We knew the weapon and where it came from, we know the body can’t have been moved. We know everything we possibly could at this point.

“The blood is all blood, there’s no paint mixed in.”

“Thanks Dia.”

“Rin’s death was definitely not instant, so the Monokuma File isn’t wrong about that.”

“Thanks Dia.”

“Nothing was used from the other rooms other than the dagger.”

“Thanks Dia.”

“Chika.”

“Yes Dia.”

“Please stop, you sound creepy.”

“I’m just sick of this game, the past 6 days have drained all the energy in me and now this…”

“It’s okay Chika… We knew this would happen… Rin accepted this… She was okay with dying for Hanayo to live… If we believe Maki then the only person who has to die now is the one who killed Rin. One more person who chose to sacrifice themselves for us.”

“You’re right… Let’s do this trial, and let’s find out who the five people to survive will be.”

 

_Even though I already know_

 

A few minutes of pointless investigation later, we heard a sound echo through the Commons Area.

 

“The investigation is now over! Please report to the- Oh who am I kidding, you’re already here!”

The grate came down over the door and with Rin’s body still here, we began to move. I still, after all these times, didn’t know which way we were moving. But eventually we stopped.

We stopped for the sixth trial.

We stopped for what would be the final trial.

We stopped for the trial to find who killed Rin Hoshizora.

Who killed Rin as she was in Hanayo’s arms.

Who killed the girl who managed to be such a sparkling ray of energy despite her own self confidence issues.

Who was going to sacrifice themselves for the remaining 5 girls

That’s what I asked myself as we all stood around the circle. The podiums for Umi, Maki, and Rin now filled by wooden poles with their pictures on them.

 

_Why am I asking myself these questions? I already know the answer._

 

**_TRIAL START_ **

 

Ruby: We don’t really have much to go off…

Dia: Well, we do have somewhere we can start.

Riko: And where is that?

Dia: We can start with when the killer could have gotten the knife.

Chika: But the paper for Yoshiko’s room was gone. There’s nothing to tell us that.

Mari: Can’t we narrow down who took the paper somehow?

Hanayo: Yes… We can…

Chika: Huh? How?

Hanayo: When we were all using the bathroom last night, what was the order everyone came into the Commons Area.

Riko: Well, I was the first out, then was Ruby, Hanayo, Dia, Mari, Rin, and lastly Chika…

Chika: When I went to the bathroom I went into Yoshiko’s room. I know the paper was there before I went in since I signed my name, but I didn’t check afterwards…

Dia: I checked when I was done to make sure everyone had signed it. It was still there when I went out to the Commons Area.

Hanayo: So that means the one who took it was Mari or Chika!

Mari: No… There’s one more who could have taken it…

Hanayo: I know… But I didn’t want to say it…

Riko: W-Well… As long as we all know, we don’t have to say it…

Mari: So I guess that makes Chika and myself the suspects…

Dia: Yes, that seems to be the case…

 

Mari: Well, if I didn’t kill her

Then that would make **Chika the killer**

Chika: And if I didn’t kill her

Then that would make **Mari the killer**

Riko: But then again…

If the last person had taken it

**The killer could still be anyone**

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

 

Riko: What do you mean? Would it rule anyone out if Rin had been the one to take it?

Chika: I… I really don’t want to say this but…

Hanayo: What is it Chika… If it’ll help us find out who killed Rin then please, tell us!

Chika: Think about this… What was it that Rin had said. What was it that Dia reminded us that she said.

Dia: She said that she would gladly die for Hanayo to survive.

Chika: Then there’s one more odd thing.

Ruby: What is it Chika?

Chika: Why hasn’t the killer come forward yet?

…

Silence.

Nobody spoke for some time.

Until Mari pulled everyone back in.

Mari: Wait, what do you mean? Why would the killer come forward?

Chika: Because we all thought this killing was someone sacrificing themselves as well as Rin. But if that were true… The killer would have already told us, right?

Riko: H-Huh? Chika?

Chika: The only other thing that would make sense…

Dia: Would be if the killer was still trying to escape…

Another period of silence as a few of the others began to understand what I meant.

Mari: And if Rin had accepted her death for Hanayo’s survival…

Ruby: And the one who killed her was trying to survive…

Chika: Then the one who killed her and is trying to survive…

Hanayo: … Huh?

Hanayo: Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What?

Chika: If Rin was the one who took the paper, Hanayo would be the most likely one to be the killer. Her death was slow, so she would have known who was killing her. If the killer wasn’t someone she was allowing to kill her then she would have screamed, right?

Ruby: Yeah… And if she screamed we all would have woken up…

Hanayo: B-B-But, how could you be saying this! How could you be accusing me of killing her!

Chika: I told you I didn’t want to say it… but even if it hurts to accuse you of killing the girl you love, I have people I love too… I have people I need to fight to protect!

Hanayo: …

Chika: So please Hanayo, prove to me that you aren’t the killer, prove that either me or Mari killed her!

Hanayo: Alright… I’ll do my best Chika…

 

Hanayo: So how do I even prove that I didn’t kill her…

Mari: The easy way would be to prove that **Rin didn’t have the paper**

The hard way would be to prove either **Chika or I had it**

Hanayo: Well then…

Dia was looking at Rin’s body, right?

Did you find the paper on her?

Dia: No, she didn’t have it in her pockets or anything

All she had was her Monobook

Ruby: But what if she hid it after we had all gone to sleep?

Dia: No, she was snoring before I had gone to sleep.

 **She can’t have hidden it** somewhere else

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

 

Dia: Then tell me where she could have hidden it Chika.

Chika: Look at the paper for Nico’s room. Rin was the last one out.

Ruby: So you’re saying that after Mari had left and before you did, she could have taken the paper and put it in Nico’s room…

Chika: Yeah… since none of us looked in any of the rooms, we don’t know if it’s in there…

Hanayo: H-Hey, wait a minute…

Riko: What is it Hanayo?

Hanayo: We’ve been overlooking something…

Riko: And? What is it?

Hanayo: What about Dia?

Dia: What about me?

Hanayo: If you were the last one to see the paper then you also could have taken it. And you were the one who said that there was nothing taken from any other room, so we didn’t have a need to go into any of the other rooms. If Rin took it and put it there, and Dia knew, then that would make Dia a suspect too!

Dia: I won’t say you’re wrong. I guess I could be pretty suspicious right now.

 

Dia: You’re not wrong, **maybe I am the killer**

Of course I know I’m not, but that’s a weak argument in a debate like this

Mari: So the biggest suspects are **Hanayo and Dia**.

Ruby: And we can rule out two people

Myself and Riko can’t have taken the paper

That means **we can’t be the killer**

Chika: No, that’s wrong.

 

Ruby: H-Huh? You mean we might be the killer still?

Riko: Chika’s saying that all that proves is that we didn’t take the paper.

Chika: Exactly, if someone other than the killer took the paper, then the killer could be anyone.

Dia: That’s not quite right either Chika. There is one person we can rule out.

Chika: Huh? Who?

Dia: The knife was in the small of her back. She couldn’t have stabbed herself there. So we know she couldn’t have commited suicide.

Ruby: So we know for a fact the killer is one of us…

Hanayo: And everyone is a suspect…

Chika: Even if we proved Rin wasn’t the one to take the paper…

Mari: That doesn’t prove that the one who took it is the one that killed her…

Riko: Everyone…

Dia: Everyone’s a suspect…

 

_We’re getting nowhere…_

_We haven’t figured out anything…_

_I know the answer…_

_But do I say anything?_

 

Chika: Everyone… I…

Mari: Do you want to say something Chika?

Chika: Yes… I… I know who killed Rin…

Riko: Y-You do?

Chika: Yes…

Hanayo: Th-Then, who did it? Who killed her!

Chika: … I did.

.

.

.

Riko: Huh?

Ruby: Chika?

Mari: What are you?

Dia: Saying?

Hanayo: So you’re the one who did it… You’re the one who took Rin from me?

Chika: …

Hanayo: You’re the one who killed the person I loved more than anyone else?

Riko: N-No, Chika, that’s wrong, you didn’t-

Chika: Then who did… Who other than me could have done it… I was the one to take the dagger from Yoshiko’s room last night when I used the bathroom. I was the one who took the paper from the table. I was the one who stabbed Rin. I was the one who made a deal with Rin to sacrifice ourselves so the rest of you could survive!

Riko: No Chika! You didn't! I did all that! You didn’t kill Rin, I did!

Hanayo: H-Huh? Wait, you both are saying you killed her?

Chika: No Riko! Stop trying to cover for me, stop trying to protect me! I want you to live! That’s why I killed her!

Riko: No! I was the one to stab her! I sacrificed myself for you Chika!

Ruby: H-Huh? Who do we believe? Who’s telling the truth?

Chika: If I’m not the one that agreed to sacrifice myself with Rin, then explain this!

Hanayo: Th-That’s-

Chika: The paper for Yoshiko’s room. I took it. I took it so that you could all try to piece it together, but since we weren’t getting anywhere I came forward. Look here, Rin and I were alone in Yoshiko’s room. That’s when we agreed to sacrifice ourselves for the rest of you.

Ruby: But… Isn’t that just when you went to get the bandages?

Chika: Yes. And while we were there we agreed that I would kill her so that the rest of you could escape.

Riko: NO! I’M THE ONE WHO KILLED HER, WE AGREED TO IT AFTER HER OUTBURST, WHEN WE WERE IN NICO’S ROOM.

Mari: But that was you trying to calm her down, right?

Dia: So both of you have other reasons to have been with Rin. You both have reasons to be lying as well as reasons to be telling the truth.

Mari: Wait, hold on, let me see the paper for Yohane’s room.

Chika: Huh? Why?

Mari: Just give it to me Chika.

Chika: Okay, here.

Mari looked at the paper, reading each and every name carefully.

Mari: So… I believe Chika.

Riko: Huh? Why?

Mari: Because you never went into Yohane’s room. Your name is not on this paper even once.

Riko: N-No! I went there last night… When I used the bathroom…

Dia: Then why isn’t your name here? If your goal was to incriminate yourself then you would have written your name, right?

Riko: That’s-

Ruby: I… Want to believe in Chika… But not as a killer… I want to believe that Chika wouldn’t kill Rin!

Hanayo: M-Me too… I don’t think Chika could kill her… And Riko’s chance to talk to her makes more sense…

Monokuma: Hey now, you guys split? great! I was waiting for the chance to use this again! Last time wasn’t really a trial… It wasn’t really fun for me… But this is my favourite part! The part where two sides go head to head to prove the other side is full of idiots!

Monokuma took out a key and put it into a pedestal. When he turned it the stands started to shift, and when they settled into place it was myself, Dia, and Mari against Riko, Ruby, and Hanayo. My side saying I was the killer, the other side saying Riko was the killer.

 

Chika: If Riko killed her, then why did I take the **paper** that shows who went to each room!

Riko: You must have been the first to realize I was the killer, that’s why you took the **paper** , to cover for me!

Dia: Riko, if you wanted to sacrifice yourself, why didn’t you **admit** to your crime sooner?

Hanayo: She didn’t **admit** to it because she never had a good opportunity to tell us!

Mari: Both of them had the opportunity and motive to kill her, but there’s **evidence** that proves Riko’s innocence!

Ruby: The **evidence** doesn’t matter! Riko just didn’t write her name down! That’s too big of a possibility to ignore!

Chika: I was the one that killed her! I’ll **repeat** myself until you believe me!

Riko: **Repeating** yourself doesn’t make it true Chika! Just accept that I’ve chosen to give my life for yours!

Dia: Riko went to the bathroom in her room, just like Mari and myself! She didn’t have a chance to go to **Yoshiko’s room**!

Ruby: Nobody saw her go out to the Commons Area sis! She could have gone to **Yoshiko’s room** before waking Chika up!

 

Chika: … Wrong… You’re wrong… It was me! I killed her!

Riko: Stop repeating yourself Chika! You can say it as many times as you want to! Your words can’t change the past! I could end this right now if Monokuma would let me go into the Commons Area.

Monokuma: No can do Saku-roo, that’s the crime scene. I can’t be letting you do any more investigation now that the investigation period is over.

Chika: I did it… I killed her…

Riko: No! You! Did! Not!

Chika: Yes! I! Did!

Dia: Both of you shut up! I know how we can handle this.

Riko: You can prove who’s telling the truth?

Dia: Maybe… I’ll ask you a question that only the one who’s innocent would know.

Riko: What is it? I’ll answer.

Chika: No, I will!

Dia: Please, stop it… It’s a simple question. What was the only item in the trash in Yoshiko’s room.

_I know the answer. I’m the one who put it there._

Chika: I… I don’t know…

Riko: I… Don’t know either…

Mari: So that means… We don’t know who the killer is?

Dia: No. Those answers do tell us who the killer is.

Ruby: How? They both said the same thing!

Dia: thanks to those answers I know this. Riko is the one that killed Rin.

Chika: No! I was the one who killed her! I did it!

Dia: I knew you knew what was in the trash. You put it there after all. And because you lied and said you didn’t, I know that you were lying about killing Rin.

Hanayo: Huh? That-

Dia: …

Hanayo: Er, never mind

Chika: So you tricked me then…

Dia: Is that a confession that what I said is true? Because that’s a confession if I’ve ever heard one. Well, I’ll let Hanayo explain.

Hanayo: What Dia said didn’t make any sense. If you were lying which is the case, then you would act like you didn't know. And if you really were the one that killed Rin then you would still be claiming that you killed her, so you would still act like you didn’t know because of Dia’s explanation.

Dia: So, basically the trick wasn’t making you lie, the trick was making you admit it by calling you out on a much simpler lie.

Ruby: So… If Chika admitted her innocence… We know Riko was the one that killed her, right?

Riko: Then please, vote for me. Vote for me and my sacrifice…

Mari: Wait… I have more questions that haven’t been answered…

Dia: What is it, even if we’re ready it’s good to have our questions answered.

Monokuma: Huh? Did you say you were ready?

Dia: No, we said we have more questions to answer and that we were not yet ready, leave us alone Monokuma.

Mari: Well, why didn’t you tell us you killed her sooner. I know Hanayo said that it was because you didn’t have a good opportunity, but there was that time before the trial, we just stood doing nothing during the investigation.

Riko: I wanted to give Hanayo a chance… A chance to mourn… I didn’t want her to be thrown right into hatred… I wanted to let her come to peace as best as she could…

Hanayo: Oh… I see… Thank you Riko…

Mari: Wait, I have another question. Chika, you said you were the one who killed her first, so how did you find out that it was Riko?

Chika: That’s easy enough… When she woke me up last night Riko specifically said she had come from Yoshiko’s room. This morning I saw her name missing from the paper, and since the knife was taken from there, I put two and two together and decided to cover for her… Dia said earlier that Riko had gone to the bathroom with her and Mari, so I guess she had lied to me about which bathroom she went to. She was trying to create an incosistency that I could point out...

Riko: Chika… Why… You’re only making this hurt more…

Chika: Fine! That’s fine! You deserve it! Think about how hurt I’ll be! How hurt I’ll be without you! How hurt I’ll be to watch you die!

Riko: And think about how hurt I’d be if I had to watch the same for you! I didn’t want to watch you suffer! That’s why I chose to give myself up! I chose to give my life for yours! Please Chika, let me be selfish, let me make the most selfish sacrifice I ever will! And the last sacrifice I ever will…

Mari: I… I still have one more question…

Riko: What is it Mari… I just want this to end already…

Mari: Well… You agreed to sacrifice yourself alongside Rin when you were talking to her after she and I fought, right? Why did the two of you agree to that? How did that topic come out? And why did you wait so many days to do it?

Riko: I already knew when Maki said that only two people had to die that I would sacrifice myself for Chika. When Rin said she was willing to die for Hanayo I asked her if she would work with me. The two of us could sacrifice ourselves so the ones we care about can live. That’s where the topic came from. And for the second question, why it took so long to kill her? Because I couldn’t bring myself to kill Rin like that, I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. The only reason I was able to when I did was because I saw Chika, she looked like a wreck, like she could hardly move. She was starving, dying, I couldn’t watch that anymore...

Mari: I’m…  Done with questions… I’m ready to vote whenever the rest of you are…

Ruby: I… I have a question too… What did you mean when you said being let into the Commons Area would prove your guilt..?

Riko: When the trial is over, I want you all to look under the couches that Chika and I were sleeping on, I taped paintings to the bottom of them, paintings of myself and Rin for you to put on two of the remaining four pedestals. I knew how Rin was going to die, so hers won’t be exact but it’ll have her in Hanayo’s arms. But mine is just a simple portrait. Sorry if it ends up feeling out of place…

Mari: So… I guess this is it… There’s nothing left to talk about… Nothing left to discuss...

Dia: …

Ruby: …

Hanayo …

Chika: …

Monokuma: Alright! You seem done! Well then, without further ado, it’s voting time!”

The pedestal for voting raised in front of me and the screen lit up. I knew what I had to do… I knew what I should do… And against every bone in my body, every fiber in my being, I ended up selecting her. I ended up selecting the girl I loved to death. Twice in a row, someone I loved was going to die. You as a victim, killed by Maki, and now Riko as the blackened, for sacrificing herself alongside Rin.

When everyone was finished the screens turned black and lowered back down. Nobody could say a word, nobody wanted to say a word.

This was the end for Riko…

Monokuma: The votes are in! Let’s see who you voted for! Well well well, it seems unanimous. Sakurauchi was indeed the blackened who killed Hoshizora! Robbing both Takami and Koizumi of the girls they love!

 

**_TRIAL END_ **

 

We were all silent. Nobody wanted to say anything. Riko was going to be the last to die. The last to be taken before we got the motive we could refuse to accept and escape with. Riko was the last one we would have to see taken from us.

But why did it have to be her.

“Chika… Cheer up…”

“H-How can you… Say that… I just sentenced you to death and now I’ll have to watch you die…”

“It’s okay Chika, even after I’m gone I’ll be here for you. You and I will watch over you. So please, just survive. Live for our sake. Live, Chika.”

I broke down in tears.

I couldn’t handle it anymore.

I couldn’t bear to lose Riko…

Not now…

And I felt her arms.

“Chika, dry your eyes, no matter what comes, all you need to do is keep living. Live life for those who care about you. No matter how awful you feel, there’s always someone who cares about you, even if you can’t see them. So live, live for that person even if you can’t do it for yourself.”

“You… You always were a bit of a hypocrite sometimes… y’know that…”

“Yeah… I guess I’m better at giving advice than listening to it… I guess you’ll just have to make up for me on that, okay?”

As the last few words escaped her mouth I felt her embrace slip. Without thinking I lifted my arm to pull her back but I was too slow.

“Monokuma, I’m ready.”

“All right! Here we go! I’ve been waiting for this one! It’s time for the horrible, awful, tragic, despair inducing execution of Riko Sakurauchi! It’s punishment time!”

“Good luck everyone, when you escape, please remember me, okay?”

Those were Riko’s last words. The final words to come from her mouth before she was dragged off to her death.

Of course I’ll remember you, you idiot…

 

When the screens lit up Riko was standing on a stone path. The path was lined with cherry trees in full bloom. It was a beautiful spring scene. And eventually Riko began to walk down the path. She closed her eyes and just moved forward. There were Monokumas trimming shrubs, cutting the grass, and just walking down the path as well. But Riko was going in the opposite direction of them all. Her eyes were closed and she just pressed onward. She continued to walk as the end of the path came into view. And at the end of the path was nothing. Pure nothingness. But Riko continued to move forward, blind to what lay ahead. She continued to walk. Step. Step. Step. Step. Until she came to the edge of the path. She stopped. She stood, looking out into the pure emptiness that lay just one step before her and for as far as she could see. And she turned around. When she turned around, she faced a small army of gardening Monokumas. The Monokumas all at once rushed at her with their tools, but before they could reach her, she fell. She leaned backwards off the edge and fell. There was no bottom to the pit, so she continued to fall. Riko fell and fell until she was lost to the whiteness. But it wasn’t over. Almost as soon as she was lost to the nothingness, her body reappeared where it had began, in the middle of the path, only this time, thanks to her speed gained from falling, she impacted.

I looked away from her body.

I didn’t want to see what that impact would do to her.

 

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“So… This is going to be our surviving cast…”

“I guess you’re right Mari… I’m the only member of μ’s left… I’m the only member of μ’s to survive…”

“Myself, Ruby, Chika, Mari, and Hanayo… It almost feels wrong…”

“But it’s who’s left Sis… We’re the only ones left…”

“Why… Why is it us… Why couldn’t it have been other people… Honoka was the first to die, what would she have been like if she had lived this long?”

“I’m not sure Chika… But I’m sure she would be proud of you… As a member of her sub-unit, you can trust me on that.”

“Thank you… Hanayo… Let’s go… According to Maki, including today we have 3 days until we’re out of here…”

“Yeah… Let’s go home… Ruby, Mari, let’s go…”

 

As we filled back into the Commons Area and saw that Rin’s body was gone, I had a thought in the back of my mind.

A thought that wouldn’t let me enjoy the peace.

A thought that wouldn’t let me accept that the five of us would escape happily together.

A thought that was only one simple word.

One word that terrified me down to every bone in my body.

_Traitor._

 

**_Chapter 6: End_ **

**Author's Note:**

> These are coming out A LOT FASTER THAN EXPECTED, I guess I've just been really motivated lately, who knows, oh well, it means you have less of a wait between chapters, though I don't even have 1k characters on chapter 7 yet, so it may be a while for that one unless I get super motivated and write 40-50 pages in one night again, so sorry if you have to wait!
> 
> And of course, as usual, feel free to leave your theories and thoughts! They're really fun for me to read!


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